


Doppelgänger

by AsagiStilinski



Series: Y-G-October 2018 [29]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Camping, Creature Fic, Creepy, Fear, Friendship, Horror, M/M, Monsters, Polyamory, Supernatural Elements, Walks In The Woods, Yami Yuugi | Atem has his own body, doppleganger, something in the woods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 21:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16457156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: A few steps past the mid-way mark, hesawsomethingIt was a figure- a human figure- standing in front of him, stock still, head hung and arms limp, and it looked very familiar..."Wheeler?"Nothing, no response, but he could clearly see that it was one of his boyfreinds, that blonde hair was unmistakeable, and he was wearing the same clothes that he had been wearing earlier too"I should have known you were the one doing this, your little prank didn't work, I'm not afraid, and I'm not amused, so cut it out,"NothingThere was just.... nothing at allDay 29 of Y-G-October 2018





	Doppelgänger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Finaiarel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finaiarel/gifts).



> Day 29 of http://horrificmemes.tumblr.com/post/177941943723/its-that-tiiiime-just-like-last-fall-im-giving "Woods"
> 
> This was partly inspired by the "Goatman" Creepypasta, anyone who's read that should know a little bit of what's in store, but **it is not supposed to be the actual Goatman, just inspired by it** , so there are some key differences as well

"Have you seen the marshmallows?"

"I'm pretty sure Tristan had them last,"

"I didn't have them, Joey had them,"

"Huh??"

The blonde jerked his head up, his mouth crammed full of sugary fluff as he stared at the group- and their irritated expressions

"Joey, _tell me_ you haven't eaten all of those!" Mai huffed, yanking the bag away and glaring into it, noting that there were only three left

That had been a _jumbo bag_ of marshmallows....

"Not... ALL of 'em... there're three left..."

Mai huffed, growling lowly as she glared at the other blonde

"Relax, I saw this coming so I brought an extra bag," Duke smirked, opening his backpack and waving around another jumbo bag of marshmallows

"Well thank goodness SOMEONE is prepared," Mai huffed as she grabbed the bag from him

"An' so long's you've got another bag, _that one_ can return to Papa~" Joey smirked, reaching for the nearly empty bag, only for it to suddenly be yanked out of his grasp by one Seto Kaiba, who was staring at him in utter displeasure

"Hey! What the hell man?"

"You should be thanking me, I'm preventing you from turning yourself _completely_ diabetic,"

Joey grumbled, but wasn't in the mood to argue, settling down by the fire again and reaching for his drink

"Hey... what happened to my soda?"

"What flavor did you have Joey?" Yugi asked, leaning back a bit to start helping his boyfreind search

"Grape,"

Atem, who was laying in Yugi's lap, slowly looked up, his eyes shifting to the half-gone bottle of grape soda he was holding, then back to Joey, his face flushing red

"Oh... I'm sorry Joey, I thought this was mine...."

"No, you had strawberry, remember sweetie?" Yugi noted warmly, gently poking his boyfreind in the head, effectively turning his face even redder

"Oh.... in that case, I am _especially_ sorry...."

"Don't worry 'bout it 'Tem, what's a lil' spit swappin' 'tween besties? Not to mention boyfreinds," Joey winked playfully, taking the bottle from his freind and taking a sip, just to prove a point really

"I'm sure that isn't the only time you two have swapped spit," Mai snickered as she started opening the marshmallows

"Hey! My _sister's_ here!"

"Relax Joey, I'm not a baby, I know all about kissing and everything else," Serenity mused with a slight giggle

As much as she thought it was sweet that her brother still wanted to protect her from anything potentially "mature", she was eighteen now, it was sort of time for him to start letting go of the leash a little

"Wow, sounds like the same conversation I had with Seto yesterday," Mokuba snickered as he grabbed the box of graham crackers

"Don't worry Mokuba, they'll stop being so overprotective... _eventually_ ," Serenity smirked

At just that moment, Seto reached down and opened the box of crackers for his brother before grabbing a set of skewers from his bag

Because apparently the Kaiba brothers were too good for sticks

~~_Someone_ didn't want his brother getting dirt in his mouth~~

"Yeaaaaaahhhhh.... I'm not too sure about that Sis....."

Sure, they weren't related _yet_ , but they were both pretty confident that they would be sooner or later and had already gotten quite attached to the idea of being in-laws

"Mm, you know, I may have been an only child, but Seth, Mana, and Mahaad certainly _felt_ like my siblings growing up, I can empathize with you both, Mahaad treated me like a small child right up until the end, I used to think it was unnecessary when I was a teenager but... I do at times miss his steadfast protectiveness now," Atem mused softly, leaning into Yugi's touch as the smaller duelist stroked his fingers through his lover's hair

"...... Well, that got depressing fast," Duke said after a moment

"I apologize, that wasn't my intention," Atem pouted slightly, glancing up at the dice player, who looked a little sheepish once he noticed the look on the former pharaoh's face

"No no! It's alright, just... uh... unexpected... who has the chocolate?"

The change of subject, unfortunately, brought with it a wave of silence across the group, earning a tired sigh from Tea`

"Really guys? Did I need to remember _everything_?"

"I'll buy some," Seto offered suddenly, wasting no time in taking the car keys from his coat pocket and starting towards the woods

"Wait, are you sure you need to do that? I could have sworn I had some in the cooler," Yugi pouted, reaching for the cooler

"Uhh... well.... ya' pro'ly did.... 'fore Tristan an' I started settin' up camp an' got hungry...." Joey said with a sheepish blush

"You guys went through _all_ of that chocolate?"

"There wasn't that much to begin with!!"

Seto merely rolled his eyes, shaking his head slowly as he took another step towards the woods

"I'm going, I refuse to draw this out any longer than absolutely necessary and there's a convenience store five minutes away from the parkinglot,"

"Ya' sure ya' ain't just usin' this as an excuse to sneak some work into your 'no work weekend'?" Joey asked with a smirk, eyebrows raised

"I wouldn't have to leave at all if you hadn't eaten all the chocolate, so you may want to think before you ask me that again,"

"....... Point,"

"Hey, wile you're out, I could use some sparkling water," Mai suggested with a grin

"If you're taking orders, I'd love more barbecue chips!" Tristan pitched in

"I would love some coffee if it's not any trouble," Ryou smiled sweetly

"This isn't a grocery run, I'm getting _chocolate_ , for s'mores, _that's all_ ," Seto huffed

"Awww are you sure? I was going to ask for ramen, I'm _starving_ , those hot dogs weren't filling at all," Mokuba added

That apparently seemed to change his brother's mind- Mokuba knew it would- as the CEO heaved a loud sigh, shoulders dropping and eyes rolling, and reached into his bag, grabbing a pen and notepad

"You dweebs have five minutes to write down what you want, then I'm leaving," he grumbled, handing the pad to Mokuba to pass around

"How generous of you Seto, you must really like s'mores, hm?" Atem teased with a smirk

"Well I didn't agree to this stupid camping trip for the quality time, I can promise you that," Seto grumbled back

"Awwwww an' here we thought ya' just wanted to get to know us all better," Joey smirked as he started making a list of all the goodies he wanted from the nearby convenience store

"I think I know you plenty," Seto mused with an eyeroll, fingers tapping against his arms as he waited for the notepad to make it's way back around the circle to him

Actually, this little adventure _had_ been meant as a bonding trip, in a way

It had come up one morning over breakfast that Joey wanted to spend more quality time with his sister and get her more involved with the group now that she was staying in Domino

Yugi had suggested they all spend some time getting to know Mokuba and Serenity better, as they were essentially the only family members that any of the four lovers had between them, outside of Yugi's grandfather

What had started as a family camping trip had slowly evolved into more of a freindly vacation after Joey pointed out that Tristan was essentially a brother to him, and then- ... well

Now they were here in the middle of the woods, on a trip Seto had only barely agreed to in the first place, with far more people than the CEO was comfortable with

And to make matters worse, he had gotten goaded into agreeing to a "No work weekend" after placing bets on a duel with Atem.....

.....

And losing

_Great_

"Done? Good," he said with a quiet huff, snatching the notepad from Tea`, who merely rolled her eyes at him

"I'll come with ya' Seto!!" Mokuba offered, hopping off of the log he had been sitting on

"That's alright Mokuba, stay here and enjoy the campfire, I won't be long,"

"Would you like some company?" Atem offered, raising up a little from his position in Yugi's lap

"I'm fine on my own, I won't be long, don't make me call emergency services on anyone,"

And without another word, he turned into the woods and left

"... Remind me why you three are dating him again?" Tea` asked slowly

"I've got no idea," Joey huffed, reaching for the bag of marshmallows again, only for Mokuba to pull it away, snickering the entire time

"Sorry, gotta do what Seto said and keep you out of the marshmallows,"

"When the hell did he say that!?"

"Seto is actually a lovely person when you get to know him, wich is, after all, what this weekend is for in the first place," Atem hummed, snuggling against his partner

"He's just a little rough around the edges, wich is understandable," Yugi agreed, continuing to scratch his fingers through Atem's hair

"Mmmm, how much do you guys wanna bet that he's going to work the second he gets a cell phone signal?" Duke asked with a smirk

"I'll put money on that," Mai laughed

"You ok Serenity?" Mokuba asked suddenly, attracting the brunette's attention as everyone else continued on with their conversation

"Hm? Oh, yeah I'm fine, I was just ... thinking.... are you sure he's going to be ok out there? Alone in the woods?"

"He'll be fine! My brother's practically made of steel, nothing gets under his skin!"

 

~+~

 

Seto hated being without technology

He had come to rely on it much more over the years than he was expressly willing to admit, he knew that, but in this particular case, he actually had a legitimate reason for his ... _distaste_....

He had never been camping before, wich wasn't much of a big deal- besides the general discomfort of the bugs, the weather, the idea of sleeping on the ground, etc- except for the problem stuck with only the absolute crudest forms of technology

Now that he was trying to get through the woods in the dark, he really needed more light than just the moon and stars were capable of providing

Luckily though, he had a spare cell phone hidden in his boot

All he had to do was bend down, unzip the top, and pull the phone away from his thigh

With no effort at all, he had the phone and was able to turn on the bright flashlight within it, using that to guide his way towards the parkinglot

Their camp grounds were on the other side of some pretty dense woods, but luckily there was a trail he could follow

...

As long as he could _see_ the trail ofcourse

He really hadn't anticipated it being quite this dark out here, the moonlight and firelight had made the night sky seem deceptively light...

He just hoped that his phone light would be enough to get him through the path to the other side

The wilderness was full of noise, all sorts of "soothing" nature sounds like crickets chirping and the distant sound of the stream running on the other side of the woods, but there were .... _other_ sounds that weren't nearly so easy on the ears

Owls hooting and ravens cawing, a strange sort of hollowness as the wind blew through the trees, it was a little unnerving, but nothing he couldn't handle

...

Until he heard twigs snapping

The sound was relatively close by, and though it gave him pause, he reasoned that it was probably some manner of woodland creature

Rabbits, badgers, foxes, deer...

Who knew what was roaming around out here?

There was just one little problem with his theory

The sound of another twig snapping came from directly _behind him_

He quickly turned on his heel, shining his light towards the area and narrowing his eyes

There was nothing there....

He brushed it off though, assuming it was just one of the many small creatures in the woods, and turned to start walking again

Only a few steps further, however, and he picked up on the sound of leaves crunching, again, coming from behind him

He turned again, jaw clenched, aiming his phone's light.....

But still there was nothing

He waited for a little longer, just for a few more moments, when suddenly the sound of footsteps- hurried footsteps- came from behind him once more

That made no sense, if there had been something behind him the first time, then how did it get behind him _again_ when he turned around?

He turned again anyhow though, starting to feel just a _bit_ on edge as he searched the area around him for .... _something_ , anything, anything that could have made those sounds...

There was nothing

"Alright, whoever is doing this, I'm not afraid, and I'm not amused, so you may as well qui-"

_Something just dashed across the woods beside him_

It had seemed like ... roughly human height, but there was something about it that definitely, _definitely_ , hadn't appeared to be human...

"Screw this," he huffed, deciding to simply ignore every other suspicious sign from that moment on and keep moving

He wasn't this easily frightened, he wasn't going to fall for such idiocy

 

~+~

 

Coming back from the convenience store seemed to be easier than getting there in the first place had been

He had a few bags to carry along with him, ofcourse, but that was no problem, and he made sure that his phone's light was up to the highest setting so that he would have less problems with seeing in the dark, all was well

...

Until he reached the middle of the woods, where he had been the last time he heard those .... _sounds_

He didn't hear anything this time, luckily, but that didn't mean that everything was alright

A few steps past the mid-way mark, he _saw_ something

It was a figure- a human figure- standing in front of him, stock still, head hung and arms limp, and it looked very familiar...

"Wheeler?"

Nothing, no response, but he could clearly see that it was one of his boyfreinds, that blonde hair was unmistakable, and he was wearing the same clothes that he had been wearing earlier too

"I should have known you were the one doing this, your little prank didn't work, I'm not afraid, and I'm not amused, so cut it out,"

Nothing

There was just.... nothing at all

Now he was actually starting to feel a little concerned

Eyebrows narrowed, he adjusted his grip on the bags he was carrying and walked closer

"Wheeler! Can you hear me?"

Still nothing....

His tongue flicked across the back of his teeth, nose wrinkling as he neared closer and closer, coming to stand only a few inches away from the blonde

".. Joey...?"

Finally the other lifted his head, but the second he did, Seto realized that something wasn't right

This wasn't the Joey he knew, this wasn't his lover, this wasn't...

This wasn't even _human_

The look on his face was contorted, the grin spread across his face was nothing but sickening, his eyes cold and dead, his expression empty except for what Seto could only describe as uncontrollable _malice_

He knew that talking to him wasn't going to do anything, so he simply took a few steps back and started back towards the camp, fast-walking, _refusing_ to run, but when he heard a low, twisted _cackling_ , he paused, glancing over his shoulder

The .... _creature_ , whatever it was, was standing right behind him, and laughing

It was laughing loudly, deeply, volume rising higher and higher with each breath

That was it

That was the last straw

Finally, Seto broke into a sprint, his heart racing in his chest as he rushed through the woods, his grip nearly cracking his phone as he shone the light forward, finally seeing the exit of the woods up ahead

But that.... that... _THING_ behind him....

It was getting closer, and closer....

He finally stumbled through the edge of the woods, turning to face the trees, his back to the light of the campfire only a few yards away, to look for the .... _thing_

But it was nowhere in sight

Collecting himself, telling himself that he had just been seeing things, he marched forward as calmly as he could, dropping the bags in the center of the circle, next to Mokuba's feet, and allowing his brother the opportunity to deal out the food and drinks

"Hey Seto! How'd it go?"

"Fine," he grumbled back simply, turning his phone off and sliding it in his pocket

"Aha! I KNEW ya' had a phone!" Joey proclaimed, snapping his fingers as he eagerly grabbed the bag Mokuba was handing off to him

Seto did nothing but huff, sitting down slowly on the log next to his brother and taking a few deep breaths through his nose, refusing to show any sign of distress or weakness, no sign that anything was wrong

"Ryou, you have hot coffee, correct? May I have a sip? I'm freezing," Atem- who had finally lifted his head from Yugi's lap- requested

"Hm? Sure, I'm a bit chilled too actually, I feel as though it's gotten colder out here all of a sudden... I wonder if it's a spirit..." Ryou mused, handing the can of coffee to Atem

"Aw Ryou, c'mon man, please, not the ghost talk again," Joey groaned

"Why don't we get that giant blanket from the car then? I didn't think we'd need it but it's much colder than I thought it would be," Yugi suggested

"No," Seto snapped quickly, not wasting a single second before shedding his coat and stepping closer to gently drape it around Atem's shoulders

"Why not?" Yugi frowned, glancing up at his boyfreind as Seto pulled the chocolate out of the grocery bag

"Just...."

He paused, glancing over his shoulder

He could _swear_ he saw something standing there at the edge of the woods, staring at them... _waiting_.....

"Just ..... trust me, that's all you need to do,"

He wasn't going to let that _thing_ anywhere near the only people he cared about

He'd convince them all to go back in the morning, but until then...

They just had to survive the night


End file.
